Method of manufacturing shoes and welting for use therein



March 27, 1934. c, RQEDER ET AL 1,952,631

METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SHOES AND WELTING FOR USE THEREIN Filed Aug. 21,1931 Patented Mar. 27, 1934 UNITED STA DIETHOD OF MANUFACTURING SHOESAND WELTING FOR USE THEREIN Clarence E..Roeder, Melrose, and Otto E.Swanson, Brockton, Mass, assignors to United Shoe Machinery Corporation,Paterson, N. J., a cor-- poration of New Jersey Application August 21,1931, Serial No. 558,478

9 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in methods of manufacturingwelted shoes and is disclosed herein with reference to the manufactureof that type of welted shoe in which an outsole is secured to the weltof the shoe by cement in place of the usual stitching.

It has heretofore been usual, in manufacturing shoes of the type lastreferred to, to perform the lasting, welting, inseam trimming, and weltbeating operations as in the manufacture of Goodyear Welt shoes, exceptthat the welting used is frequently of a lighter weight than is typicalof Goodyear Welt shoemaking practice. After the welt-beating operation,the sole receiving surface of the welt and the trimmed edges of thewelt, the shoe upper and the rib of the insole, produced by the inseamtrimming operation, are coated with pyroxylin cement which is allowed todry. This operation must be performed carefully, since it is necessarythat the welt be thoroughly covered, clear to its outer edge, withcement but without permitting any of the cement to reach the exposedshoe upper adjacent to the welt. The marginal portion of. the previouslyroughened outsole is also coated with pyroxylin cement and after thatcement has dried the cemented surface of the outsole as well as thecemented surface of the welted upper are treated with a suitablesoftener to activate the cement, after which the sole is applied to theshoe which is maintained under, pressure while the cement sets.

In the practice of the novel method of our invention, we utilizepre-cemented welting, that is welting the attaching surface of which hasbeen coated with cement and allowed to dry. Preferably, and asillustrated herein, pyroxylin cement is used for this purpose. Thecement is applied to the welting and dried while the welting is in acontinuous strip, and, of course, before it supplied to the operator ofthe welt stitching machine. After the pre-coated welt has been attachedto the shoe the inseam trimming and welt beating operations areperformed in the 45 usual way. Then the bottom of the shoe is filled Ias in the manufactureof Goodyear Welt shoes and pyroxylin cement ispreferably applied to the freshly cut edges of the welt, the shoe upperand the rib of the insole produced by the inseam trimming operation.This cement is allowed to dry and the outsole is prepared and attachedin the manner previously set forth.

The applying of the cement to the welting in the skein or hank relievesthe shoe manufacturer or the delicate and therefore slow job of applyingcement to the welt after it has been attached to the shoe. The coatingof the trimmed edges after the inseam trimming operation, on the otherhand, is not critical, as it is remote from the exposed portion of theshoe upper, and can therefore be performed quickly and easily.

In view of the foregoing our invention will now be described withreference to the accompanying drawing and pointed out in the claims.

In the drawing,

Fig. 1 is a view of a short piece of precemented welting before it hasbeen attached to a shoe;

Fig. 2 illustrates the manufacture of a shoe in accordance with ournovel method, showing the shoe after the pre-cemented welting has beenattached to the lasted shoe upper and insole by the usual inseam whichextends through the welting, the shoe upper and the rib of the insole;and

Fig. 3' is a cross-sectional view through the forepart of thesubstantially completed shoe.

As illustrated herein, 10 represents the upper of a shoe manufactured inaccordance with our novel method and held in lasted relation to a last12 and an insole 14 by staples 16 passed through the upper 10 and therib 18 of the insole 14 and clinched upon the inner surface of the rib18, for example by a staple side lasting machine of the characterdisclosed in the Letters Patent of the United States No. 1,796,451,granted March 17, 1931, on an application filed in the name of GeorgeGoddu. As illustrated in Fig. 2, the toe portion of the shoe upper isheld in lasted relation to the last and insole by means of a wire 22held at its ends by the usual anchor tacks 24. The heel seat portion ofthe upper is secured in lasted relation to the insole by the usual tacks26.

The welting 28 which is now to be attached is provided on its solereceiving face with a coating of cement, indicated at 30 in Figs. 1 and2, pref erably pyroxylin cement, of a character now commonly usedforattaching soles to shoes by the compo or cement process. Before applyingthe pyroxylin cement the welting, which is preferably of a wedge shapein cross-section, and is therefore known as wedge welting, is grooved asillustrated at 32 for the reception of the stitching of the usualinseam. The trimming of the welting to this wedge formation, or theevening of the welting, if not of wedge formation, by the usualwelt-evening machine, produces a clean split leather surface welladapted to receive cement, and no additional roughening of the welt isordinarily necessarybefore the cement is applied. Preferably thepyroxylin cement used should be of one of the more flexible varieties inorder to avoid such stiffening of the welt as would interfere with orslowup the inseaming operation. If the shoes to be manufactured arewomens light Welts, suitable dimensions for the welting are 1 to of aninch wide, of an inch thick on the inner edge, and on the outer edge,with a shallow groove of an inch or thereabouts from the inner edge.

The pre-cemented welting is attached by means of the usual weltstitcher.- The thread thus used for the inseam'may advantageously belubricated with a substance more compatible with pyroxylin than thewaxcommonly used, for example with castor oil, which may be put in thewax pot of the welt stitcher. p After the pre-cemented welt 28 has beenattached by stitching 34 inserted by the usual 'welt stitcher, theanchor tacks 24 and the toe wire 22 are removed, and the inseam trimmingis performed in the manner usual in the manufacture of.Goodyear Weltshoes. Then the welt is beaten to flatten it, andis slashed at the toe,if necessary, as is also usual in the manufacture of Goodyear Weltshoes, and the bottom is filled, as indicated at 36 in Fig. 3, eitherwith a sheet filler or with one of the well-known plastic fillers, afterwhich, preferably, pyroxylin cement is applied to the clean cut edgesresulting from the inseam trim- I ming operation and is allowed to dry.If a thicker coating of cement is desired on the welt, a second coatingmay be applied to it at the same time that the cement is applied to theinseam.

The marginal portion of the attaching face of the outsole 38 is scouredor roughened and is coated with pyroxylin cement which is allowed todry, after whichthe cement is softened, being with a suitable solventwhich is preferably applied both to the cement on the sole and to thecement on the welted upper, that is to the cement on the welt and on theedges 1 formed by the inseam trimming operation, after which the outsoleis applied to the shoe and the shoe and sole are put under pressurewhile the cement, indicated at 40 in Fig. 3, sets. This leaves the shoein the condition illustrated at the righthand side of Fig. 3, with thewelt and outsole hugging the upper byreason of the sole-attaching.pressure.. The shoe is then edge-trimmed,

the condition of the sole and welting after theedge-trimming being shownat the left side of Fig. 3, and finished in the usual way.

Having thus described our invention what we claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters-Patent of the United States is:

1. That improvement in methods of manufacturing shoes which comprisessecuring a welt the sole engaging surface of which-is pre-coated withacellulose derivative cement to the marginal portion of a shoe uppena'ndsubsequently activating the cement on the welt and u'tilizing it tosecure an outsole to the shoe.

2. That-improvement in ethods of manufacturing shoes which comprisessecuring a welt the sole-engaging surface of which is pre-coated with acellulose-derivative cement to the over; lasted marginal portion of theupper and to the insole of a lasted shoe, and activating the cement'uponthe welt and utilizing it to secure an outsole to the shoe.

3. That improvement in methods of manufacturing shoes which comprisessecuring a welt the ment to the overlasted marginal portion of a lastedshoe upper and to the insole of the shoe,

applying cement to the marginal portion of an outsole, activating thecement on the welt and the outsole, and applying, the outsole to theshoe and pressing together the cemented surfaces of the welt and theoutsole, thereby securing the outsole to the shoe. 5. That improvementin methods of manufacturing shoes which comprises workinga shoe upperinto'lasted relation to a ribbed insole and stapling the upper in thatrelation to the rib of the insole, stitching to the upper and the rib ofthe insole a piece of welting pre-coated with cement, inseam-trimmingthe shoe, and utilizing the cement on the welting to secure an outsoleto the shoe.

6. That improvement in methods of manufacturing welted shoes whichcomprises working a shoe upper into lasted relation to a ribbed insoleandsecuring the upper in that relation to the rib of the insole,stitching to the upper and the rib of the insole a piece of weltingpre-coated with cement, inseam-trimming the shoe, and utilizing thecement on the welting to secure an outsole to the shoe. I

'7. That improvement in methods of manufacturing shoes which comprisesstitching a welt the sole-engaging surface of which has been pre-coatedwith pyroxylin cement, to the overlasted marginal portion of the upperof a lasted shoe and to a rib extending peripherally of the insole ofthe shoe, inseam-trimming the shoe, applying pyroxylin cement to themarginal portion of an outsole and permitting it to dry, activating thecement on one or both of said shoe parts, and applying the sole to theshoe and pressing together the cement-bearing surfaces of the welt andthe outsole, thereby securing-the outsole to the shoe.

8. That'improvement in methods of manufacturing shoes which comprisesworking a shoe upper into lasted relation to the rib of an insole andsecuring the upper in that'relation to the rib' of the insole, stitchingto the lasted upper and the rib of the insole, a welt pre-coated withcement, inseam trimming the shoe, coating with cement the cut edges ofthe welt, the upper material and the rib of the insole resulting fromthe inseam trimming operation, applying cement to the marginal portion'of an outsole, and pressing togetherthe cement-bearing surfaces of theoutsole and the welted shoe upper while the cement is in activecondition and thereby securingthe outsole to the shoe. L

9. That improvement in methods of manufacturing shoes which comprisesstitching a welt the sole-engaging surface of which has been pre-c'oatedwith pyroxylin cement to the overlasted marginal portion of the upper ofa lasted shoe and to a rib extending peripherally of the insoleresulting from eration and permitting insole of the shoe, inseamtrimming the shoe, applying pyroxylin cement of the welt, the

p y ny oxy of an outsole an to the cut surfaces shoe upper and the ribof the the inseam trimming opthat cement to dry, apcement to themarginal portion d permitting it to dry, activat-

